The ninth annual Mothman Festival is set to take over downtown Point Pleasant this weekend.

Aside from several activities, including a pageant, 5K run/walk, hayride and live music, this year’s festival will feature several guest speakers. Those speaking at this year’s festival primarily have ties to the paranormal world and the Mothman legend.

All guest speaker presentations will take place at the Historic State Theater, located on Main St. Chad Lambert, creator of the Mothman Comic and festival regular, will take the stage first at 10 a.m. Saturday. Following Lambert’s presentation several other guest speakers are lined up for the day, including: Joe Clark, founder of Commonwealth Paranormal, 11 a.m.; Alan Caviness, UFO investigator, “Caviness Report,” noon; Susan Shephard, author and ghost hunter, 1 p.m.; Rosemary Guiley, author, 2 p.m.; and Tom Ury, Mothman eyewitness, 1966, 3 p.m.

A special screening of the “Eyes of Mothman” movie also is set for Saturday. The screening will take place at 4 p.m. and will feature a question and answer session with Matt Pellowski. Sunday’s festival activities will feature more guest speakers as well, including: Christa Carr, West Virginia State Social Studies Fair project winner, “Mothman,” noon; Ericca Cordier, author of “Mothman Returns,” 1 p.m.; Kurt McCoy, author of “White Things,” 2 p.m.; and Andy Colvin, author and Mothman photographer, 3 p.m.

In addition to guest speakers, festival-goers will have an opportunity to meet with the original Mothman eyewitnesses on Saturday from 1-3 p.m.

For more information on the Mothman Festival or for a complete schedule of events, visit here.

About Loren ColemanLoren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013.

One could describe an Owlman Conference as a “hoot” not sure about Mothman aka Garuda aka “Phred” (but only to his friends). Now, we know that there is a species of Tiger Moth that emits a “click” which (though above the range of human hearing) is quite loud and confuses the hell out of bats.